my family had been pressing me to come home for a long time. Especially my dad and grandfather. By the time I finished the final year of my stint, I was ready to see Nevada again.”
Ava was exchanging too much personal information with this man, she decided. Yes, there were plenty of patients who wanted to talk about their lives and their families. And she always listened, because talking was cathartic for a sick or injured person. But the more this man revealed about himself, the more she was drawn to him. And that was dangerous for her job and her peace of mind.
She reached for a tube of medicated cream and carefully began to spread it over the raw flesh. “Do your other brothers also live here on the Silver Horn? I know that Rafe and Lilly live here in the ranch house and Clancy and his wife have a home on the property.”
“Finn got married a few months ago and lives in Northern California now. He and his wife raise horses. And Evan married a woman with a ranch several miles southeast of Carson City. My sister, Sassy, is a ranch woman, too. She and her husband, Jett, have their own ranch northeast of Carson City. Although this past month she’s had to slow down much of her ranch work. She gave birth to a baby son about three weeks ago. Little Mason has an older brother and sister, so she has her hands full.”
“Your sister must be quite a woman if she helps run a ranch and takes care of three small children, too,” Ava said thoughtfully.
“Even with two good feet, I wouldn’t be able to keep up with Sassy.”
“So all the Calhouns are involved with ranching in some form or fashion. Why aren’t you?”
He didn’t answer immediately, then finally he said, “Never thought I was that much of a cowboy, I guess.”
Ava figured there was much more to his reasoning than that, but she was hardly going to press the issue. She’d already asked him far too much about himself. The last thing she needed was for him to think she was interested in him as a man. Because she wasn’t. She cared about his health, but nothing more. She wasn’t sure she could ever really care about another man. Not after losing Lawrence.
She removed a second bandage from his arm and carefully medicated the area before covering the two wounds with clean dressings. He remained quiet until she started to work on his shoulder blade.
“Your hands are very gentle. Has anyone ever told you that?”
“I don’t remember.”
“You’re not on a witness stand,” he reasoned. “You can answer truthfully without incriminating yourself.”
That teasing lilt was back in his voice and Ava decided he must be Irish to the core. “You’re not supposed to be asking me such things. And I’m not supposed to be answering.”
He chuckled. “Who’s going to know what we talk about? I promise my room isn’t bugged with a microphone or recorder.”
“Look, I don’t date—if that’s what you’re getting at. And frankly, I don’t know why any of that would interest you.”
“Why wouldn’t it interest me?”
Pausing, she studied the back of his head. He had the most beautiful hair. Thick and wavy, the tawny color gleamed like a polished penny. “I’m sure you have a busy life. With plenty of girls to keep you occupied. I’m boring stuff.”
“Hmm. You don’t look boring to me.”
Each time she thought she could shut him up, he came back with something she wasn’t expecting. Perhaps if she remained quiet, he’d do the same. But she seriously doubted that would work. He seemed to be enjoying himself too much.
“Are you one of those guys who are attracted to older women?”
“Never thought about it before. You’re the first. I mean, the first older woman I’ve found attractive.”
Dear heaven, she was thirty-five. That was hardly ancient. But compared to him she felt like it. He was still very young, with so much in his life to look forward to.
You have plenty to look forward to, also, Ava. You just don’t want to see it. You’d rather stare into the past and wonder how things would’ve been if Lawrence had lived.
There it was again. That little spark in her that refused to surrender to reality. If she ever let herself be swayed by it, she’d be in big trouble, Ava thought.
“Thank you for the compliment,” she told him. “If that’s what it was meant to be. But my life consists of working, eating and sleeping.”
“No playing mixed in with all that?”
She kept her gaze fixed firmly on the tortured flesh of his shoulder. Apparently this part of his body had taken the major brunt of the flaming tree. Evidence of contusions spread away from the burned area. The yellow and purple shades told Ava he was healing, but she couldn’t help thinking how fortunate he was to be alive. He’d said he was thankful he’d been rescued, yet she wondered if he was actually aware of the extreme danger his life had been in.
“I’m not the playful type,” she answered.
Before she could guess his intention, he lifted his head and rolled onto his good shoulder so that he was looking straight at her. “Then we need to do something about that.”
There was no mistaking the wicked little grin on his face, and she promptly placed a hand at the back of his head and pushed him back down to the mattress.
“You’re in no condition to be doing anything,” she said flatly. “Except following doctor’s orders.”
His chuckle was muffled by the bedcover and for some reason the sound made her wonder what it would be like to be between the sheets with this man and have nothing between them but hot skin. How would it feel to surrender to all that masculine strength and passion?
The fact that she was even imagining such things was enough to jangle her senses. Lawrence was the only man she’d ever made love to, and since she’d lost him Ava had balked at the notion of another man touching her in an intimate way. So why was this man breaking into her safe little world? Why was he making her breath catch and her heart pound? It was crazy and scary and she had to put a quick end to it.
“I won’t be in this condition too much longer,” he reminded her.
His taunting voice broke into her runaway thoughts, and she resisted the urge to rip a piece of adhesive tape from his healthy skin. “That’s right. And once you’re healed, you won’t ever see me again.”
“I wouldn’t bet on that.”
The teasing tone of his voice had changed to a husky promise, and Ava inwardly shivered. There were all kinds of retorts and reprimands she could shoot back at him. But it was becoming clear that if she jumped into a verbal sparring match with Bowie Calhoun, she’d wind up the loser.
With her lips pressed to a determined line, she silently redressed the remainder of his wounds, then turned back to the nightstand to gather her things.
“Are you finished?” he asked.
In more ways than one, Ava thought grimly. “Yes. You may sit up and put
